There are over 400 articles on Rands in Repose, written over the past decade. If you know what you’re looking for, your best search move is using Google or DuckDuckGo to find that specific article, but if you’re here for the first time, I’d like to give you the lay of the land.

Welcome. I’m Rands. That’s not my real name, but that hasn’t stopped me from writing in these parts for over a decade. At the beginning, topics were all over the place, but as time passed, I settled into some themes and article length grew. Much of the recent material is usually 1000+ words. I don’t have a lot of top 10 lists or FAQs; I write longer substantive pieces that I hope are worthy of your attention.

If this your first time here, the following is a handful of Rands-defining pieces that will give you a sense of what is going on:

The Nerd Handbook: An article that explains nerds to the significant others of nerds. If you’re a nerd and want to feel like someone is wandering around your head, it’s a good read. If you’re a significant other of a nerd, this will help explain nerd… nuances. (Honorable mention: N.A.D.D.)

Bored People Quit: One of major themes on this site is engineering leadership. This piece breaks down the different types of 1:1s you’re likely to see on your team and explains how to handle the more complicated parts of people leadership. (Honorable mention: A Glimpse and a Hook)

How To Write a Book: One of the benefits of writing a lot on this weblog is that it’s made it easier to write books. I wrote this piece shortly before the publication of my second book and frequently reread it when writing becomes terrifying. (Honorable mention: Please Learn to Write)

One of the significant tasks I did as part of the redesign of the site was scrubbing the categories associated with each article, as well as defining new categories based on reader feedback. If you’re interested in wandering, the following is a list of categories I feel are full of quality content:

Management: I really wish I called this category leadership. In fact, once the dust settles on the new version of the site, I’ll do just that.

Tech Life: A mishmash of topics that I believe most nerds and geeks will appreciate considering.

Tools: I have been known to obsess about the tools I use – here’s the proof.

Writing: The reason you’re here. While there are far fewer articles than in leadership and nerdery, there are gems here.